Bernie Sanders

Anyone who thinks we do not have an oligarchy right here in America is sorely mistaken.

It speaks to whether or not we can go beyond the needs of the lobbyists.

Over half of the people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck.

This is an important step forward, and I congratulate the President for doing that.

That is really what this whole debate is about. Which side are we on?

The President's budget is a statement of our values and priorities.

But we spend money on health care, to be sure, but we also spend a huge amount of money on the bureaucracy to determine whether somebody is eligible or not.

We should simplify that and make sure, to quote the Secretary, the more veterans--I think the goal is to get more veterans into the VA.

The idea of a presumptive is to sweep in or lower the threshold of evidence in places where the science in the aggregate is strong but the science in the particular is difficult.

At the end of the day--and I know not everybody in this room agrees with me--health care happens to be a human right for all Americans, in my view, and especially for people who put their lives on the line, such as our veterans.

I think I would hope that we could all agree that if we are spending a dollar on VA health care spend it on health care, not a bureaucracy to determine whether or not the veteran, in fact, was exposed or not exposed.

So I think that instead of spending a huge amount of money in the Federal bureaucracy to determine whether in fact somebody was exposed to toxins from a burn pit, exposed to Agent Orange, maybe we just say that if you were a veteran who…

Are you concerned that this extraordinary concentration of ownership might be a danger to our economy, and, in fact, with so much power in so few hands a danger to democratic society?

Thank you very much.

I support the efforts that Senator Warner and Senator Manchin are trying to make any bankruptcy laws in this country a little more fair.

No entity should have that kind of power delegated to them by the laws that are passed here in this location that we are sitting now.

Warrior Met miners are on strike today because private equity ripped them off.

In 2016, a group of private equity funds, led by Apollo and Blackstone, acquired Walter Energy and formed Warrior Met Coal.

Today, in America, just three--one, two, three--Wall Street firms--BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street--manage $22 trillion in assets.

Never before in the history of the United States of America have so few owned so much and had so much power over our economy.

When we talk about power in America many people think that, you know, President of the United States, pretty powerful guy, that he is the most powerful person in this country. Well, frankly, I am not so sure.

These three firms are also responsible for the astronomical prices and emergency rooms.

I have been trying to work with Joe Manchin on re-establishing a higher priority for workers and their pensions.

It is disgraceful that these workers have been on strike this long of a time.

What is happening at Warrior Met is not an aberration. It is not an exception to the rule.